House electricity question.

[jsbush]

A noob with a question.

When I put a voltmeter on my hot wire and on my ground i get a reading of 125volts.

I thought the ground was just a ground, and not a neutral wire like the white.


Is it normal that i get a reading from the hot wire and the ground wire?

 

[Electric Amish]

Yes.

You are grounding the hot wire.

 

[oldman420]

Electricity flows from the source to the ground so if you complete a circuit from a hot wire to a ground it will be a live one, the purpose of the ground wire in household wiring is to provide a path of less resistance to current in the event of a short circuit across the hot and neutral wires.
it keeps the current from flowing through whatever you are using through you to the ground by providing a path of less resistance for the current to the ground.

if you look at the pole outside your house you will see 3 wires 2 hot and a neutral either hot and a neutral makes 120 volts both hots together make a 240 connection for dryers and large appliances

 

[edro]

The white wire is tied to ground in the electric box.

 

[jsbush]

Originally posted by: Electric Amish
Yes.

You are grounding the hot wire.

Actually the neutral wire is grounded. There's a resistance from the ground and the neutral wire ranging from 6mA-20mA.

 

[0]

Originally posted by: jsbush

Originally posted by: Electric Amish
Yes.

You are grounding the hot wire.

Actually the neutral wire is grounded. There's a resistance from the ground and the neutral wire ranging from 6mA-20mA.

Resistance is in ohms, not mA.

 

[jsbush]

Originally posted by: 0

Originally posted by: jsbush

Originally posted by: Electric Amish
Yes.

You are grounding the hot wire.

Actually the neutral wire is grounded. There's a resistance from the ground and the neutral wire ranging from 6mA-20mA.

Resistance is in ohms, not mA.

Yeah I knew that. I ment micro OHM's.

 

[jsbush]

Originally posted by: Electric Amish
Yes.

You are grounding the hot wire.

Oh alright, I get what you mean. lol. Thanks

 

[Gibson486]

Originally posted by: jsbush

Originally posted by: 0

Originally posted by: jsbush

Originally posted by: Electric Amish
Yes.

You are grounding the hot wire.

Actually the neutral wire is grounded. There's a resistance from the ground and the neutral wire ranging from 6mA-20mA.

Resistance is in ohms, not mA.

Yeah I knew that. I ment micro OHM's.

you mean milli-ohms? And ofcourse....no path in an electrical system will have 0 resistance. 0 resistance doe snot occure in real life unless we get rid of conductors or have super conductors.

 

[jsbush]

Originally posted by: Gibson486

Originally posted by: jsbush

Originally posted by: 0

Originally posted by: jsbush

Originally posted by: Electric Amish
Yes.

You are grounding the hot wire.

Actually the neutral wire is grounded. There's a resistance from the ground and the neutral wire ranging from 6mA-20mA.

Resistance is in ohms, not mA.

Yeah I knew that. I ment micro OHM's.

you mean milli-ohms? And ofcourse....no path in an electrical system will have 0 resistance. 0 resistance doe snot occure in real life unless we get rid of conductors or have super conductors.

Makes sense. MOHM's is milli Ohm's? I know small resistors in electronics are mF or pF etc. I figured it was micro.

 

[Gibson486]

Originally posted by: jsbush

Originally posted by: Gibson486

Originally posted by: jsbush

Originally posted by: 0

Originally posted by: jsbush

Originally posted by: Electric Amish
Yes.

You are grounding the hot wire.

Actually the neutral wire is grounded. There's a resistance from the ground and the neutral wire ranging from 6mA-20mA.

Resistance is in ohms, not mA.

Yeah I knew that. I ment micro OHM's.

you mean milli-ohms? And ofcourse....no path in an electrical system will have 0 resistance. 0 resistance doe snot occure in real life unless we get rid of conductors or have super conductors.

Makes sense. MOHM's is milli Ohm's? I know small resistors in electronics are mF or pF etc. I figured it was micro.

No, M is mega....u is micro, m is milli and it's an ohm sign, not F (F= farad, for caps)


BTW, if you measure resistance.....micro and milli lead us to say it is 0 ohms for pratical purposes.

 

[Rubycon]

Yes this is normal - the ground wire is usually bonded to the metal chassis of an appliance. This way if the black or hot wire or something connected to it comes loose and touches the chassis it will open a circuit breaker or blow a fuse.

This prevents you from getting electrocuted by touching a hot chassis and standing on a wet concrete floor, for example. (or an aluminum or steel deck 😉 )

What happens if the ground is bypassed (3x2 adapter plugged in to ungrounded outlet or idiot behavior of breaking off ground prong to do the same)? That's a ground fault - if the circuit is protected by a GFCI (Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter) YOU will complete the circuit, feel a brief but normally harmless shock and the GFCI will open within 1/40 sec. If there is no GFCI and you're well grounded you may die. :Q Most codes REQUIRE GFCI protection in washrooms, galley areas, and all outdoor sockets and ALL circuits around pools and spas.

 

[DrPizza]

If you have a voltage between your neutral and your ground, then you have a problem.

Neutral is pretty much the same as ground, except the purpose of the ground wire is for safety. No current travels through it - it's "just there" - unless you have a problem.

 

[RU482]

grounding the neutral wire also keeps the entire system from floating to dangerous levels. i.e. if the neutral line wasn't grounded, you could possibly experience a situation where the the Hot or neutral wires float to several hundreds or thousands of volts above ground potential.

 

[Fritzo]

Moe: "and this is the room with electricity...but it's got too much electricity, so...I don't know...wear a hat or something."